Panetta Ties Iranian Weapons to Attacks on U.S. in Iraq

Well, it's not like this represents anything new. Even the Bush administration was caught off guard by Iranian influence in Iraq. The situation has changed. The threat's as substantial as ever.

At LAT, "Panetta: Iranian weapons used to attack Americans in Iraq":

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday that weapons supplied by Iran are behind a rash of attacks against American forces in Iraq, part of an escalating campaign of violence ahead of the planned U.S. troop withdrawal by the end of the year.

"We're seeing more of those weapons going in from Iran, and they've really hurt us," said Panetta, who arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit after a two-day stop in Afghanistan.

U.S. officials said 15 U.S. troops were killed in June, the most in any month in two years. More than half of the deaths were caused by rockets known as Improvised Rocket Assisted Mortars that U.S. officials say are provided to Shiite militant groups by Iran.

A senior U.S. official said the attacks against U.S. forces were an effort by the Iranian-backed militias to make it appear as though they were forcing out American troops, all of whom are due to withdraw by the end of the year under a 2008 agreement between Washington and Baghdad.

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other U.S. officials also have said publicly in recent days that Iran is behind the surge in violence against the 46,000 U.S. troops remaining in Iraq. The high-level effort by the Obama administration to blame Iran for the attacks comes as U.S. officials are stepping up the pressure on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to resolve whether he will ask for some American troops to remain beyond the year-end deadline.

By playing up the Iranian threat, U.S. officials may be hoping to spur such a request from Iraq.

RTWT.

Amazing that an increase in casualties would spur the administration to prolong the deployment. Mr. President, you're ignoring your ASFL base. Duh.